The Palisades
by ChocoTaco
Summary: Sometimes it takes being tackled by a boy wearing paopu fruit underpants to knock your inhibitions out of you. Short. Pure fluff. RikuxSora


**A/N:** Yaoi. Something new for me.

Nothing of consequence. Just fluffy and hopefully mildly entertaining. It's somewhat rough, I may clean it and repost. Originally it was going to be a flashback in a different oneshot, but it kind of screwed with the theme and the continuity of the other fic, so I took it out. I figured it was substantial enough to stand on it's own. This is the first of several oneshots I plan to write inspired by lines from the song "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us" by Sufjan Stevens.

_"Oh, how I meant to tease him.  
Oh, how I meant no harm.  
Touching his back with my hand, I kiss him."_

Yeah. I encourage everyone reading this to go download that song. It's absolutely beautiful.

Anyway... enjoy!

Fictionally yours,  
Kaci

* * *

It was their third night back on Destiny Island. A picturesque sunset was gracing the horizon, its warm orange glow embracing the landscape as well as the form of two boys as they sat back to back on the shore, the sound of the tide lapping up over their legs the only thing breaking the companionable silence between them. A light breeze ruffled their hair affectionately, and Sora's nose twitched as a silver strand of hair tickled him just below the jaw, the sigh escaping him barely recognizable as his own. He could hear Riku breathing against him, see the sand shifting ever so slightly with every tiny, graceful movement of the boy's bare feet, feel the tinge of warmth cover him as Riku inclined his head a small bit so that it rested in the steep curve between the younger boy's neck and shoulder… but still, none of it felt real to him. Not yet, not after so long. Not after everything.

He suddenly found himself snapped out of his meditative state when Riku abruptly jumped to his feet, the fact that Sora had been leaning heavily against him causing the brunette to topple over backwards into the wet sand.

"Hey!" he cried out, in a tone that was good-natured but indignant. "I was – "

But his rant was cut off when Riku proceeded to remove his pants.

"Um… Riku?" Sora inquired, looking up at his friend who was now in the process of taking off the T-shirt he was wearing (His other ensemble had proved to be much too insulated and confining for his more frivolous island pursuits, and after all that he had been through, he would let _nothing_ come between him and frivolity.). "I mean, I know I'm cute and all… but please, could you at least _try_ to contain yourself?" he joked, flashing the older boy a sly grin. Riku chuckled and gave him an appraising look, as if evaluating just how much Sora had matured and changed to make a suggestive remark like that.

"I'm going swimming, stupid. It's not like I go around stripping down to my boxers whenever I feel so inclined," Riku - who was now, indeed, in nothing but a pair of plaid flannel boxer shorts - retorted, but if the words seemed harsh his soft smile betrayed them. "C'mon."

Sora clambered to his feet obligingly, shook the sand out of his unruly (perhaps "gravity-defying" would be a more accurate term) locks, and followed suit until he was down to his underpants, which Riku noted with a snigger were emblazoned with a design of little cartoon paopu fruits.

"What?" the brunette said defensively, crossing his arms over his chest, which he was proud to say was no longer flat and boyish but somewhat toned, no doubt from battle upon battle wielding a weighty Keyblade and sparring with powerful foes. Riku shook his head, turned, and waded into the water with a happy sigh. Sora did the same, but more excitedly, bounding off into the small waves and sending splashes of salty water flying all around.

Another appreciative laugh having been solicited from his smirking lips, the older boy's green eyes danced over the surface of the water as he slightly quickened his pace through the sea, taking in the beauty of the soothing light reflected on the glossy waves and, in his opinion, the only thing that could make the scene absolutely perfect: Sora, the boy who had been both his enemy and his closest friend, the boy who had never given up on him even in his darkest hour, the boy to whom he owed and wanted to give everything…

…the boy who was quickly gaining on him and preparing to pounce.

_Wait, what? _

By the time Riku's mind had time to register the scantily clad boy who was flying towards him it was too late, and Sora was sounding a battle cry as he took a running leap onto his friend's shocked form and sent them both tumbling backwards into the thigh-deep water.

Riku came up first, releasing a spout of seawater from his mouth and mentally cursing the name of Sora. As soon as the boy emerged from the water, impish grin and all, the taller one took hold of his slippery arms with playful yell and plunged him down into the water, amid much kicking and bubbles and "Oh shit!" The game continued until they found themselves in water that almost reached their shoulders and declared themselves done.

Again, they were silent, and they both fell into watching the sunset once more as they caught their breath.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Sora commented simply as he swam a little circle around Riku.

"Yeah, it's…" the silver-haired boy said with an awestruck expression. "Shit, it's beautiful."

"Wow, Riku," laughed the other boy sarcastically, doing another lap or so around his friend. "What a way with words."

"I try."

Sora chuckled again, creating a small rippling splashing as he circled Riku yet again.

"Stop that," Riku told him, seizing Sora's hand to bring him to a halt. "You're making me dizzy." The smaller boy looked at him questioningly with dazzling sapphire eyes and somehow Riku thought that maybe it wasn't the swimming that was making him dizzy. Releasing Sora's hand with a surprising bit of reluctance, he draped his arm over the boy's shoulders instead and drew him in closer, and the brunette folded happily into him, wrapping his arm around the other one's back. A surge of warmth, thick and strong, rippled from Sora's fingertips to the sensitive skin of Riku's ribcage and through every nerve in his body.

"I missed this," the taller one heard Sora say, partially into his hair. "I missed being here, being happy… I missed you," he looked up as he said the last part as if to see if Riku returned the sentiment, and they were so close that the tip of Sora's nose almost touched Riku's chin. He received a warm smile from his friend, who looked down, not into Sora's eyes but the water beneath them, and now they were practically nose-to-nose.

"I can't believe… I can't believe I'm here again, after everything… after all I did."

He could feel Sora looking at him with concern and almost see it through his curtain of silver bangs. He felt a hand, wet and soft, touch his jaw, his chin, fingertips directing his gaze upwards. He finally met Sora's eyes again, waiting to hear boisterous words of reassurance or the kind of cheesy joke you tell when you desperate to break the tension, waiting for the boy to clap him on the shoulder and splash him in the face and challenge him to a race just to get his mind off of things.

But when he looked into those crystalline eyes, he did not see that proverbial twinkle of boyish mischief. What he saw was an unfathomable emotion working its way into those ever-expressive eyes, searching his face, inquiring, wondering.

And then for the second time that day Riku could taste salt in his mouth, but this time it was from the droplets of seawater that still lingered on Sora's lips as they connected with his. For a moment, they forgot. They forgot their past, the betrayal, the doubt, the confusion, the hurt. They forgot that they were both male and had never had any homoerotic tendencies before this, unless one counted their now unwavering devotion to each other. That didn't matter. It was their souls that met, that melted, that merged into one perfect moment as their knees knocked together in the cool water and the curves of their lips seemed to blend together, one in the same, and for a second maybe dark and light weren't so different after all. In the end, one cannot exist without the other.

It was Sora who broke the kiss, sliding his chin against the expanse of Riku's cheek and blending seamlessly into a tight embrace.

"God, I missed you."

* * *

_Fin._


End file.
